PET Food Processing - December 2020 - 22

FOOD SAFETY

ENVIRONMENTAL TESTING REQUIREMENT IF RISK
OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION EXISTS:

program is risk-based and applies a searchand-destroy approach, according to Craig.
To help centralize efforts and gain con* %HVFLHQWL¿FDOO\YDOLG
trol of the environment, Frank Ziacik,
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commercial director for pet food, North
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America, Cargill, Minneapolis, suggested
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placing dedicated ownership of an EMP
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with the facility's Food Safety and Quality
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team. He recommended this team should
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Source: Eurofins
also include a microbiologist and operations and equipment team members who
are ready to focus on high-risk areas within the facility.
the inclusion of the proper tools and methods of sampling
to establish a baseline. Because pathogen contamination is Asking the right questions
often heterogeneous throughout a lot and occurring at low With the right individuals in place, it's time to consider
levels in the finished product, Sutzko promoted EMPs as a possible implementation hurdles. Questions to ask include
preventative measure to find growth niches on non-food where, what and how often to test. How many samples will
contact surfaces.
be needed for testing? What will be done with the data
" Don't wait to test for pathogens until a product is pro- once testing is complete and how will the EMP be funded?
duced, " she cautioned. " EMPs allow a processor to find po- Next, consider what will happen with the discovery of an
tential pathogen contamination in the processing environ- inevitable first out-of-spec result, how will the root cause
ment prior to the product becoming contaminated. "
be determined, and how will the resulting corrective and
Through the consistent use of pathogen monitoring pro- preventative actions be decided.
grams, processors can minimize the risk of environmental
" Negligent decisions made in building and management
pathogen contamination and the potential to produce un- of an environmental monitoring program can result in
safe, non-conforming product, protecting brand reputation personal and company liability, " Marshall said. " We teach,
by catching issues before a product ships.
" Environmental monitoring is a proactive way to measure success of control programs, and quality can definitely
be influenced by testing outcomes, " said Doug Marshall,
chief scientific officer, Eurofins, Fort Collins, Colo. " For the
pet food industry, the greatest impact will be seen with perishable items such as high-moisture products that are susceptible to spoilage. "
Pet food products created for consumption in a raw state
that are not treated with a microbial kill step (extrusion,
cooking or pasteurization) are likely candidates for the use
of environmental monitoring, Marshall continued. Food
treated with a kill step but exposed to the manufacturing
environment before final package closure can benefit from
applying environmental monitoring practices to negate
cross contamination.
To further strengthen the impact of an EMP, it's critical
to have buy-in from players throughout the organization,
The uniqueness including management, operations, sanitation, quality and
of each process- maintenance. Consistent implementation will necessitate
ing environment an ongoing investment of time and money along with
means each consideration for the potential impact to production if, or
manufacturer when, positive test results are obtained. Product that must
must design a be placed on hold in the outcome of a positive result then
robust EMP that becomes waste - in the form of time, labor, cost and ingreworks for them. dients. Applying EMPs infrequently or as a post-problem
Microbac
effort is less effective in preventing issues. An effective

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PET Food Processing - December 2020

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